


Yokai

by Amonoff



Category: Lego Ninjago
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-19
Updated: 2017-12-04
Packaged: 2019-02-04 06:07:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,215
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12764724
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amonoff/pseuds/Amonoff
Summary: Lloyd is killed in the Village of the Lost Generals. Though his friends grieve, the job of a ninja still needs to be done.





	1. Day 0

In his roughly 150 years since he ditched college to pursue his dream of being a conqueror, Garmadon had learned that the analogy of Fate being a cruel mistress was putting it lightly. Fate was a crazy, sadistic monster, sometimes so much more than Garmadon, which he respected greatly. That didn’t mean he liked Fate, however. Initially, he was fascinated by it, taking delight at how seemingly random events could come together to create senseless chaos and used that to start and win wars. Then Fate turned on him and began to kick him around, and very slowly, fascination turned to annoyance, then bitterness. Meeting Koko was one of the few times he thought Fate had finally given him break. When Lloyd was born, Garmadon actually praised for once in a long time. He should’ve known better.

 

Any happiness Fate gave was only given to make the pain of it kicking back again hurt tenfold, and it did. He closed his heart off the day Koko left him all alone. Sixteen years, he tried to carry that lesson with him: never hold on to happiness. He should’ve known it wouldn’t have been that easy. For even with veteran warlords, Fate always found a way to come in and mess everything up.

 

In this case it did so with the most classic evil; giving the old conqueror what he wanted.

 

In his arms, the Green Ninja, his arch-nemesis...his son, was shaking weakly, clutching a hole in his stomach as blood quickly poured from him and stained the ground beneath them. He was gasping weakly, complexion now paled, and likely wasn’t even aware of the fight exploding nearby as his ninja friends clashed against the General #1 army closing in.

 

Garmadon pressed against the wound, trying to help stop it too. He couldn’t believe he didn’t see whats-her-name sooner. If he had, or maybe called Lloyd sooner-

 

“D-Da...ad…?” Lloyd took a sharp breath. Garmadon shushed him, stroking his head like did when he was baby,

 

“Ssh! Don’t talk, Luh-Lloyd! Just save your strength!” He said, probably sounding optimistic but just from the amount of blood Garmadon could tell the injury was mortal. If would be different if they were near a hospital, then his son would have a chance, but they were miles away from Ninjago City, and that was ignoring how he had targeted hospitals in his recent invasion.

 

There was no doubt, Lloyd was a lost cause, and in a few minutes would be literal dead weight. Yet, to Garmadon’s own confusion, he could not accept that. Even though it was meaningless, he wrapped his cape around Lloyd’s waist and tied it to try in hopes it might lessen the bleeding -- in hopes that for once Fate would throw him a bone.

 

Fate’s answer was his son’s agonized scream when he tried to pick him up and carry him back to their incomplete copter, getting surprised, worried, and probably angry looks from the ninjas.

 

“What’s going on back there?!” The Red Ninja--Kai, yelled fiercely, mid-punch against one general.

 

“I’m working on, it okay?!” Garmadon snapped before going stroking his son’s head again to calm him. “Luh-Lloyd, I need you to take a deep breath. Or else I can’t carry you to the car-thing.”

 

But his son kept crying, futilely holding his stomach to ease the pain. “It hurts…!”

 

“Luh-Lloyd-”

 

“Please, Dad, you-” Lloyd breathing starts becoming heavier. Garmadon can tell how he’s trying to stay calm. His eyes briefly go to his friends behind and then to the car awaiting them feets away. He takes in one, unusually long breath. “You...have to get out..”

 

Garmadon feels his blood run cold. “What…?”

 

“Get out...with the others…” Lloyd gasps painfully. He’s still crying. “I’m not...gonna make it, am I?”

 

“Of course you will, Luh-Lloyd! I still gotta teach you how to catch! And if you die your mother would kill me!”

 

Lloyd chuckled, but his eyes didn’t waver. “Tell mom...I’m sorry. And I love her. She took such good care of me...I wasn’t a good enough son-!!”

 

A sudden violent cough interrupted Lloyd. Barely visible flecks of blood escaped him and landed on Garmadon’s chest.

 

Father and son looked at each other again, but with a sad smile now, one that on Garmadon’s part began fall. More so as Lloyd weakly lifted his hand and pushed it against his father’s shoulder.

 

“Dad...just go. You gotta…save Ninjago.” Lloyd coughed weakly. “Just leave me here...”

 

...since Garmadon was young, he had been trained by their hardened father to be a warrior. He trained day and night, mastered every weapon, war tactics...maybe not negotiations, but anything with combat he excelled in. Until he became a full-fledged warrior. As he looked on at his son, still smiling weakly and resigned to his fate, and then back at the Ninjas desperately fighting, and more importantly, losing, Garmadon felt something he had never felt before.

 

Conflict.

 

The warrior in him raged to do what was right, as did something else that spoke against it and to do was ‘right’ too. He rubbed his son’s head for what was likely the last time, and looked into his eyes. It was like Koko’s, so full of good, and likely encouraging him on the path of good. For what felt like a moment of peace, Garmadon, too, resigned to Fate’s cruel dictations.

 

“Luh-Lloyd...Son.” Garmadon says, getting a surprised look from Lloyd, likely at the addression. “I...I think I have a way to help you.”

 

“Y-You do?” Lloyd brightens. “You’re not gonna...give me your powers...or something, are you?”

 

Garmadon wished.

 

“No. But it’s something I’ve learned from experience. First, close your eyes.”

 

Lloyd looks at him, confused, but closes his eyes all the same, trusting his father. Garmadon carefully lays his son down on the dirt ground, moving on of his four hand over Lloyd’s eyes and firmly pressing against it. Then, after glancing back one more time to make sure that the ninjas were still occupied with fighting the generals, drew out a dagger from his belt and placed it just above Lloyd’s neck.

 

Once more, the hesitant voice cried out for mercy, so loud that Garmadon’s hand wavered. But Garmadon was a warrior. Still was a warrior...

 

He shut his eyes, feeling a sting in them as fire ran down his cheeks.

 

Then, he pressed the blade down against the flesh of his neck and drew it.

 

Lloyd’s body suddenly jerked underneath in response to the sudden pain, so much that his face slipped from beneath Garmadon’s hand, eyes flying open at him shock.

 

But that was it.

 

In the next instant, Lloyd stopped moving, the pained expression remaining frozen on his face as he went still.

 

His son was dead.

 

Garmadon felt his world still, everything going quiet. He couldn’t register one of the ninjas yelling at him and the sudden silence that followed, or how the army chasing them had also gone quiet in surprise at the sight before them. He did, however, register the sudden force tackling him off a good few feet away from his son’s body and the onslaught punches across his face.

 

“YOU BASTARD!!” Garmadon feels some crack in his jaw. “YOU KILLED HIM!! YOU’RE OWN SON!!”

 

He feels something wet drop on his face. He mistake it for blood, at first, only to realize that his attacker was crying. Garmadon returns to reality, seeing the Red Ninja furious, arms ablaze, swinging another punch to his face. “WHY?!”

 

“Kai…!!”

 

“Lloyd?! Lloyd, come on man!! This isn’t funny!! LLOYD!!”

 

“He’s dead. I do not sense his heartbeat…”

 

“No…”

 

Noise exploded all around Garmadon, too much together to make sense.

 

Once again, Garmadon had lost everything.

 

**_Your son is dead_ **

 

Garmadon cries. Fire leaks to the ground.

 

**_You killed him_ **

 

“I did what I must.”

 

**_Yes. You had no choice. They hurt him_ **

 

The conqueror’s fists tighten. His blood screams.

 

**_KILL THEM ALL. AVENGE HIM_ **

 

Fate was cruel. Fate was sadistic.

 

160 years ago, Garmadon was bitten by a snake that was bitten by a spider. Since then, evil literally flowed in his blood. For the years to follow, he tries to fight it. Even when he became conqueror, he vowed to never let it take over him.

 

That night, he broke his vow. The warrior in him won, as did the evil.

 

* * *

 

A young man -- a young, translucent, green, man looked out to the forest from atop a cliff. He could see the fire rage in the jungle’s night as clearly as he could sense the malice and chaos flowing out of there. It sent shivers down his non-existent spine.

 

“What the heck?”


	2. Burial

Zane was a nindroid, created by the famous late scientist Dr. Julien to be his assistant. Though he had only lived with him for eight years before his passing, Zane gained -- at least what he felt -- was sufficient experience with work with computers and motor vehicles. That was why he made his mech to be a tank and he took great pride in driving it. It came to him like instinct now which was why he immediately ran for the driver’s seat the minute Garmadon screamed and threw Kai off, oozing such a bitter evil that it made Zane, a robot, sick.

 

Zane backed up the unfinished copter towards his friends, still quivering by Lloyd’s body as they watched Garmadon literally tearing the army that had been chasing them apart with his bare hands. It horrified Zane but as far as his probability calculations were concerned, there wouldn’t be anything they could do without all of them getting killed too.

 

“Everyone!!” Zane called out, getting his friends’ attentions. “Get inside!”

 

No one argued. Nya helped Kai up and into the vehicle while Jay and Cole carried Lloyd’s body inside. Once everyone was safely aboard, he floored the gas and drove. He didn’t stop for anything, ramming through small trees and ignoring the bumpiness on the road. Despite that, Cole still ran up to him by the driver’s seat.

 

“Where’re we going, Zane?” He asked, tone just barely staying calm.

 

“Back to the fork on the road. Then…” Zane went quiet, processors beginning to work again. His pause must’ve worried his friend as he quickly asked, “Then what?!”

 

“My apologies. I was just wondering what we should do with…” the nindroid hesitated. “Lloyd.”

 

He could see the expressions of his friends darken from the rear-view mirror, especially from the twins who knew Lloyd the longest. “We can go back. Ms. Koko needs to know. However, Meowthra and Ninjago’s safety is still a priority-”

 

“Screw Ninjago!!” Kai suddenly yelled surprising all of his teammates.

 

“Kai!!” Cole’s tone was stern, warning his hot-headed friend to watch himself but Kai only glared back in defiance and lashed back, “Like you guys never thought it before!!”

 

Cole’s face twitches. Zane could feel himself looking down in shame as well, proving Kai’s words.

 

“Why should we keep risking our lives for that place when everyone there treats like garbage!? Lloyd especially!”

 

“We didn’t become ninjas for the special treatment, Kai! We became ninjas to do what’s right! To protect the masses!”

 

“So did Lloyd, and he’s dead!”

 

“Lloyd would want us to go on! He loved Ninjago!”

 

The two ninjas glared at each other in a standstill.

 

“I...didn’t become a ninja for Ninjago.” Everyone, in surprise, turned to Jay. His input was weak and hesitant, and he looked close to crying, but with a broken voice, he continued. “But my parents live in the junkyard which is near the shore. And my mom...my mom collects seashells. I just wanted them to be safe.”

 

Kai looks away but says nothing to Jay. They had all met Ed and Edna, and they certainly good people, one of the few that were even nice to Lloyd.

 

“I agree with Jay.” Zane piped in, getting the blue ninja by surprise. “I mean, my creator is no longer here, but I made him a promise to protect Ninjago. I don’t want to disappoint him.”

 

“I know what you mean…” Cole sighs, now hesitantly speaking up. “I get you Kai, really. But...I can’t leave my dad like that. We fight, sure, but he’s my dad, y’know?”

 

Kai is quiet, he doesn’t add anything. Nya stands up, quietly approaching her brother with open arms and hugged him, gripping him tight. Very slowly, Kai began falling apart in her arms, breaking into a gross sobbing that soon Nya herself followed in, unable to hold back anymore. It was heart wrenching sight for them. No one had even seen the twins like this before.

 

Zane maintained at the wheel, staying silent as Jay and Cole did, driving on for a couple of more minutes. It would be an hour before they finally arrived to the forked road. By then, they had all become numbed, which was the closest to calm as they were going to be tonight. Zane parked by the cliff, then turned to the rest of his teammates.

 

Lloyd’s body was still at the centre. There was no way it would last overnight. They needed to figure out what to do with it now before rotting started.

 

“Everyone…” Zane spoke up. No one looked at him so he guessed that they already knew the topic. “So...what do we do now? Do we go back or continue on?”

 

Everyone remained still. Then, Cole walked up. “Why don’t we vote? Everyone up for going back, raise your hands.”

 

Oddly enough, no one raised their hands.

 

Cole nodded his head. “Alright. Looks like it’s decided. So...” he looked a bit lost now. “Let’s...bury Lloyd here. We can come back for him once everything’s settled.”

 

There was a simultaneous exhale in the room, likely as what everyone had been thinking had finally been said. Cole was shaking, then after a hesitant breath, walked out of the room. He dropped down unto the dirt ground, sending out what Zane detected was little shockwaves. Then, to everyone’s surprise, he screamed, punching a fist down at the ground with such a force that the soil beneath it flattened while the surrounding soil was forced up to make a small pit.

 

“Cole?!” Kai was surprised, as was the rest of them. The black ninja turned back. He looked like he was shaking a little.

 

“I...reached my true potential too.”

 

They all nodded, then turned to Lloyd. If it wasn’t for his blood-soaked neck and clothes, he would’ve looked like he was sleeping.

 

“I will take his shoulders.” Zane offers. Jay hesitantly comes beside him, wanting to help too. The twins, meanwhile, take his legs. At the count of three, they all lifted Lloyd up and carried him into the pit.

 

As they brought him in, though, a book fell out from Lloyd’s pocket while they were bringing him down. Kai hastily picked it, giving Zane only a few minutes to scan the cover: “Lloyd’s Diary. Property of Lloyd Garmadon. Do Not Read. Please.” After laying him down, Kai placed it back in his pocket, wiping away his eyes on his sleeves. Zane then folded Lloyd’s arms over his chest, as per custom.

 

Once they all climbed out, Jay hesitantly spoke up. “So, I guess we should say a few words?” he asked, looking around to the rest of his friends as they all stood around the pit. “I suppose I should start. I...envied Lloyd.”

 

Zane perked up, unable to help being surprised. Everyone else’s reaction looked the same too. Jay awkwardly continued. “I mean, he always did was right. Always was good even when no one was to him. He always smiled. I wanted to be like that too.”

 

“He was a good leader. Always supported us no matter what.” Cole added quietly. “He saw the good in everyone. Like...remember what happened with the Serpentine?”

 

They all nodded, remembering that mission. “We were supposed to drive them away after discovering them, but then one day, Lloyd suddenly insisted on looking into their history. That was when we learned about their unfair imprisonment.”

 

“Lloyd held no prejudice.” Zane stated. “Even though they were our enemies, he sympathized with their pain and worked on the best solution for everyone.”

 

“And actually berated the entire city on camera when everyone started chanting for the Serpentine to leave.” Cole added, actually smirking a little. “Lloyd was so pissed that day. I actually thought he turned against the city for a moment! Still can’t imagine the Green Ninja being angry at Ninjago for once.”

 

They all laughed a little, but when the moment passed, Nya sighed sadly. “Lloyd deserved better. We should’ve had his back more.” She gripped her hands. Kai, however, shook his head.

 

“He deserved what every other person deserves. Ninjago didn’t deserve Lloyd.”

 

After a moment of contemplation, Cole raised his hands and gently moved earth around the pit over Lloyd. The burial was quick since no one wanted to see the soil slowly pile on their friend. A simple stick with a green cloth tied to it and some flowers were placed on it to act as markers for when they would return. They’d come back after doing him proud and saving Ninjago, and it would start with them getting the Ultimate Ultimate Weapon.

 

* * *

 

He feels something...odd. Like the world is moving. Or rocking?

 

The young man opens his eyes and is greeted by a dark sky. He can’t help but look at it baffle because it complete, empty darkness, devoid of even a star. It was like looking at nothingness.

 

“Ah, finally awake, I see.”

 

The young man jerked up, suddenly noticing the cloaked figure standing in front of him. It was now that he was up he got a good view of the world around him. His world was literally rocking because he was on a boat, floating slowly on the murky river. Lanterns floated along on the water’s surface, illuminating a soft glow through the fog surrounding them.

 

“W-Where am I?”  


“This place goes by many names. For simplicity, this is the Departed Realm.” The cloaked man answers, calm and cool, and still rowing. “I’m a ferryman. My name is Ming.”

 

“The Departed Realm?” The young man tries to process his words, his mind piecing trying to understand what they meant through what felt like distant memories to him. “Am I-”  
  
“Dead? Yes. You have to be dead to enter at all. Anyway, we’re almost to our destination.” Ming snaps his head up. The young man turns around as the man suggests and he sees before him a city. A city that was silent, not a single or sound shone through. It made the young man’s hair stand on edge, like he was about to enter some horror film. “That’s the Spirit’s Court.”

 

“Spirit’s Court?”

 

“It one part of the Departed Realm. A facility, to be precise, though it hasn’t been used much these days. It’s where young ones like you go. Who…” he coughs a little. “died too early.”

 

“What’ll happen once I go there?”

 

“That one will be up to management. I’m just the ferryman.” he replies. Too vague for the young man to understand.

 

“Okay...what’ll be up to management?”

 

The cloaked suddenly stiffens, pausing like he was looking at him. “Boy, didn’t they teach you this in preschool?”

 

“Preschool…?”

 

The man groans, and continues rowing. “Do you at least remember your name?”  
  
“My name? Yeah, sure, it’s….”

 

….

 

….he

 

He couldn’t remember?!

 

The young man tried to recall, really tried, but he just couldn’t remember. Ming sighed at his silence and confused expression. “So you don’t even remember that? Geez, kid, how did you die?”

 

“I don’t know!!” He crossed his arms. If he knew he would’ve...not be bummed over it.

 

“Must be bad if you can’t recall that much. Take it from me, kid, some things are better left not remembered at all. Oh, we’re here.”

 

The boat stopped against the shore, surprising the young man a little. He was sure they were farther than that, and more strangely there was a large torii gate there. He hopped out, only stopping when Ming called out to him.

 

“Hey wait, aren’t you gonna pay me?”

 

“Pay…?” He felt a little nervous until the man pointed to his pocket. The young man felt through it finding some coins. He handed it over, not thinking too much of it. “Thanks. Of course you wouldn’t remember, I guess. Be sure to take the ticket over there before you go in.”

 

Now he points over to a ticket booth just around the gate. The young man goes towards, with nothing else to do but to follow his instructions. He takes a ticket, reading 57. With that done, he walked forward to go through the gate. He could feel his heart pounding a little from excitement. When he got in...he was sorely disappointed.

 

Through the gate was a simple hall office with ten booths across the room -- only three of which were occupied -- with red tape lining towards them. Other than that, the place felt boring.

 

“Oi, you there!!” Someone from one of the booth yells impatiently. “Come right this way!!”

 

“Uh- RIGHT!!” The young man yells back, and runs up forward.

 

“Your ticket?” The man asks once he arrived. He hands it to him and he goes right to his computer. “Ah! Oh. Ooh… wow, this is, uh…”

 

“Is something wrong?” he asks. The man scratches his head.

 

“Nope. Okay, well, everything in here is wrong but unfortunately it’s nothing too surprising.”

 

The young man is confused, but the man went back to work so he supposed it was nothing to think about.

 

“Hm, looks like you still retain your power. Guess it’d be waste not to use it.”

 

“My power…?”  
  
“Yup, You’ll figure it out. And done!” He taps a key on the pad and gets up, handing him a numbered card “Just head over there.”

 

He points to the hallway to his right. “What’s over there?”  


“You’ll figure it out once you’re there.”

 

“That’s really suspicious, you know.”

 

“Yeah, but it’s part of procedure.”

 

The man continues typing away on his computer. Without much else, the young man goes down the hall and sees doors lining up the side. There’re numbers above, so he guesses that he should go through the one with the number on his card; 1.

 

“Scuse me!” He says, entering the room. Inside is a woman in traditional garbs, tinkering with a device in the side of the room, and another torii gate.

 

“Hello. Please close the door.”

 

“What am I doing here?” He asks while closing the door behind. The woman turns around, but maintain keeping her hands behind her.

 

“This is the Yokai Room. And this gate here will lead to the Overworld. You will go through soon after this-” Suddenly, the woman draws a gun at him. Before he could scream, a shot rings out the room, never escaping the confines of the wall or door. The young man only feels pressure slam his whole body, like the wind has been knocked out of him and he can’t breathe. He gasps before blacking out.

 

The woman puts the gun back into her, rolling her sleeves to get ready. “All right! Heave ho!” She picks the young man up by his shoulders, drags him to the torii gate, and promptly tosses him through. “Done! Hm, even in such an advanced world, it can’t ever be peaceful for once, can it?” She mulls boredly, leaving the room to start on the paper work.

 

* * *

 

Ninjago City….Ninjago’s great capital and the most technologically advanced city of any within the world. Yet, it seemed like only yesterday when the most advanced piece technology was the TV, which back then was a giant block that could only play black and white pictures. It was quite a luxury just to own one of those things then, and now he could see thousands of them lying in the scrap heap as almost everyone owned whatever was the latest. The complex and bright apartments weren’t there either. The city was quite small and gloomy. There wasn't much lights fixtures installed around then, so going out at night was dangerous.

 

Danger...that was probably the one thing that hadn’t changed. Back then when war was rampant and even now as Garmadon tried to conquer it. At the very least, living conditions had improved dramatically. Despite the constant attacks, the city still stood high and tall and last he heard, there was hardly civilian casualties. The destruction was more of inconvenience than anything.

 

It made Morro laugh since such destruction back in his day would probably force families to begging on the streets and turning to crime just to survive.

 

Just like he had to...well, except the family part. He ended up getting sold by his own parents to some underground group before they ran off. He still remembered crying hard that night, clinging to some hope that they would return. Of course they didn’t and so at six, Morro was all alone and had to learn survive the harsh world alone, forced to beg for money from people who spat at the sight of some dirty kid approaching them and getting beatings when he failed to meet the quota. It was a short time, but it was the hardest time of Morro’s life. He cried and cried, and when the tears ran out of he started punching and kicking.

 

Anger and hate consumed his life. Hate for his rents that left him, hate for the adults that beat him, hate for the kids that still had it all, and hate for the ones like him that didn’t and needed someone to vent on. He hated everyone, the city...he hated Ninjago City. And while a good chunk of that hate has now dimmed, that place would never exactly hold something in his heart.

 

...that said, here he still was. Morro had only come back twice since his death, and both times were to visit the funerals of some friends. He never minded the city beyond either times until news of a Green Ninja made its way to him. The fabled Green Ninja who only showed up in times of crisis, having returned after having disappeared centuries ago…

 

There was no way Morro could ignore that. Not for the world.

 

He made his way to the city posthaste, and the first thing that greets him is an explosion of evil nothing like he’s seen before. He felt death literally chill on his back, and he was a ghost! It made his gut churn. So he found something else he couldn’t ignore and before he knew it, was making his way to where he felt the evil. As he trekked down through the forest, he finally came across The Fork. That was what they called the fork that led to the Dark Ravine and Temple of Fragile Foundations. He didn’t expect to see it in such a mess.

 

From the left path, the trees were wrecked, some snapped completely in half with the trunks lying on the tire track-covered soil. Someone was obviously driving away from something and with the Dark Ravine, Morro could only guess so much between the giant tarantulas, cyclops, wild animals… Disregarding that, though, something else more interesting caught his eye. Freshly turned soil at fork’s centre with a stick wrapped in cloth and some flower on it. Morro guessed it was a grave, and recent at that. He shined his light up, noticing the green color of the sash. At once, something felt very wrong.

 

Morro threw down his bag and concentrated, summoning the winds to dance together into a small, powerful tornado, until it moved so viciously that stray branches sucked into it were obliterated instantly. Morro commanded it downwards, plowing it into ground. Seconds later, the grave exploded. Soil rained down before a body unceremoniously dropped on to the ground with a loud crunch. Morro really hoped that the head was always that awkwardly crooked before shining his lamp on it.

 

He sucked in a breath.

 

The body was in a goddamn gi! And not just any gi but the Green Ninja’s!!

 

Morro cursed a storm in his head as he scrambled to the body and turned it over. As a part of him expected, the body belonged to a boy; a kid. He looked about sixteen or so, which was a common age for most beginning ninjas. His skin was pale and there was a deep cut in his neck, so much that it explained how the head was so easily misshapen from a short fall. Blood soaked his matted white hair and gi too. Examining closer, Morro could make out other wounds on his body, particularly the glaring wound on his stomach that, from personal experience, was mortal. Just looking at it made Morro feel all kinds of wrong.

 

This boy died gruesomely in what could only be described as overkill. It truly begged the question as to why someone would go so far to slit his throat when he was already dying, though finding the answer to that would no doubt be hard when making enemies was part of the ninja job description.

 

Shining the lamp downwards, he noticed something sticking out in the pocket of his gi; a book. Morro took it hesitantly and was shocked once again by the words on the cover that greeted him and let him know that finding this boy’s killer would be ten-times harder.

 

He was a Garmadon. A ninja Garmadon… Morro didn’t even want to imagine what was recorded in his diary, but with the chance that something important about the situation could be written inside, there was no choice but to read it. And he did so with absolute disgust for the content he discovered within.

 

* * *

 

 

Garmadon gasped, lifting his boots off the muddy ground with grunt as he made his way to leave the village. Apart from his breath and the crackle of the burning flames around him, the night was in a cold silence. The screams had finally silenced, much to his relief, but when he stepped outside, he noticed that the road was empty.

 

The oddly loud ninjas were also gone along with their ride, with a trail of broken trees so obvious to Garmadon that he would’ve easily followed it if he hadn’t also noticed that his son’s body was gone.

 

**They took him**

 

Garmadon’s fist clenched as he stared at the dark spot of bloodied soil before him.

 

**The Ninjas took him. Get them**

 

He turned his gaze upward towards the summit of the tallest mountain in Ninjago, the location of the Temple of Fragile Foundations; his home and where the Ultimate Ultimate Weapon was hidden. The ninjas already had a huge head start too. If they found it, there would be trouble. No doubt, they would use it against him…

 

**Without it, Ninjago will never fall**

 

Ninjago….

 

Garmadon supposed that was all he had now. Following the ninjas’ trail would get him to the temple by tomorrow’s noon. It was a good thing he knew a shortcut.


End file.
